Typically a workpiece is held on a stamping machine or the like between two or more clamp members mounted on an elongated traverse that extends transverse to and that can move in a longitudinal direction toward and away from a treatment station on a table of the machine. The traverse can be moved in the longitudinal direction to determine workpiece position in this direction. The stops can be moved in the transverse direction along the traverse for positioning the workpiece in the transverse direction.
German patent document 3,634,255 describes such a system. It has a round-section guide rod extending in the longitudinal direction along one longitudinal edge of the work table and the traverse is mounted at one end on a carriage that can slide along this rod. At its opposite end the traverse has a clamp that can solidly grip the corresponding table edge. In addition the table is provided adjacent the guide rod with a massive square-section bar formed with an upwardly open T-slot and a T-bolt or ratchet is fitted to the carriage so that the traverse can be latched along this edge of the table also. A double angle iron is fixed to this slotted bar to secure it to the table and the guide rod is also secured to this angle bracket.
Such an arrangement is fairly complicated and bulky. It is expensive to manufacture and difficult to assemble to the work table.
German patent 3,507,047 of P. Maier describes a stop arrangement for a table saw which has a complex metallic profile whose one end is secured to the table's miter slide and whose other end stands on a separate stand remote from the table to guide long workpieces. The dangling free end of this system is not stable enough for use with a stamping machine or the like, and in general it is not usable as a holder for a workpiece in this type of equipment.